Do calories change on your birthday?

Hey guys, not sure if this question belongs here but it is worth a shot. I will be 29 in 2 days, I am also on maintance now (wooooooo), I was wondering if your allowed calories go down as you get older?
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Replies

  • RobD520
    RobD520 Posts: 420 Member
    edited December 2017
    At my goal weight, I would have been given 12 calories less per/day at maintenance at age 29 as compared to 28. A female with the same numbers would be given 9 calories less.
  • Good_Morning_Glory
    Good_Morning_Glory Posts: 226 Member
    What a crappy birthday gift
    :D:D:D

    Happy Birthday OP!!!!

  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
    There will be a couple hundred difference between calories needed for a lightly active 18 year old vs a lightly active 80 year old but not much difference at all between 28 years and 29 years.
  • Armywife04_21
    Armywife04_21 Posts: 60 Member
    Thanks guys lol. I just know that when you get older your calories decrease even slightly. When you go on any calculator this is why they ask your age, so I was wondering if MFP did the same once you are older. Kind of funny in a messed up way lol
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,576 Member
    edited December 2017
    Thanks guys lol. I just know that when you get older your calories decrease even slightly. When you go on any calculator this is why they ask your age, so I was wondering if MFP did the same once you are older. Kind of funny in a messed up way lol

    It's because calculators average calories based on population data. Most people become progressively more sedentary as they age. If you stay active you can eat above average as you age.
  • BBum69
    BBum69 Posts: 35 Member
    edited December 2017
    Yes, sort of. The calculation is 6.8 calories less per day for each year of age for a male, 4.7 less for a female. However, your body won't age one year in two days, so what is working today will probably work next week too.
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,134 Member
    My calories go up.
  • kpk54
    kpk54 Posts: 4,474 Member
    Info deemed reliable but not guaranteed...I vaguely remember when my birthday rolled around from 59 to 60, mfp knocked away 10 or so calories. It wasn't much. I would say this may have occurred because I reached a new decade but don't really know. I know it has not occurred with the last 3 age changes to 61, 62, 63 but am guessing that may be because I had overridden the default calories provided by MFP and was not following the "Guided Setup" or I'd not changed decades in age. Dunno really.

    I have, in the past, played around with MFP and if I enter age 20 with my other stats then enter age 60 with the same other stats, I get fewer calories at age 60 than at age 20. Same as happens on other calculators. I just went to sailrabbit as an example and while keeping all other stats consistent, I changed my age from 20 to 60. BMR went from 1442 to 1292. TDEE went from 1775 to 1550. About 140-150 calories over 40 years.

    I believe from my personal experience, weight gain had a great deal to do with less activity. I previously walked 18 or 27 holes of golf while carrying my clubs. Then I got a lighter golf bag. Then I got a bag with a "stand" and didn't have to bend down and lift my bag. Then I got a pull cart. Then I started riding in a cart. Yep...less activity.
  • Sunna_W
    Sunna_W Posts: 744 Member
    ... as you age you will find that each birthday gives you a new "present"... some years it might be a new crease or wrinkle; other times your hair may suddenly do weird stuff; a new joint will ache... just plan accordingly... Happy Birthday, BTW
  • BBum69
    BBum69 Posts: 35 Member
    My apologies, in my previous post I only mentioned the BMR calculation. The "lifestyle" setting would multiply that by 1.2 for sedentary. So 8.2 Kcal for a male, 5.6 for a female.
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
    What a crappy birthday gift

    That and health insurance premiums. Hurrah.
  • Charlieneedles
    Charlieneedles Posts: 15 Member
    Happy birthday!!
  • TonyB0588
    TonyB0588 Posts: 9,520 Member
    Hey guys, not sure if this question belongs here but it is worth a shot. I will be 29 in 2 days, I am also on maintance now (wooooooo), I was wondering if your allowed calories go down as you get older?

    Yes there are differences in your body as the years go by, but 29 is NOT old by any means. You have a long way to go before you start slowing down.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,879 Member
    Hey guys, not sure if this question belongs here but it is worth a shot. I will be 29 in 2 days, I am also on maintance now (wooooooo), I was wondering if your allowed calories go down as you get older?

    Lol...no

    As you age, there is a slight decline in BMR...but this is over decades, not the clock striking midnight on your birthday. Activity level is a much bigger factor in calorie requirements going down as we age. When I was 23 I could eat all of the food and drink all of the beer and it never made a dent in my weight because I worked landscape construction in the summer and waited tables or retail in the winter and I didn't own a car and walked and biked everywhere...now at 43 I can no longer do that because I have a desk job and even though I exercise regularly, I spend much of my day on my rear...

    The difference in my BMR now at 43 vs 23 is an estimated 130ish calories...so in 20 years, my BMR has declined very slightly.